PRODUCTS & PEOPLE

The Fabric Discovery Center brings together three of the Manufacturing USA institutes: Cambridge-based Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, which is the only one of the institutes headquartered in Massachusetts, as well as Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM), and NextFlex, the flexible electronics institute.

SJC Custom Drums in Southbridge was also founded by a pair of brothers – a lot more recently. Scott and Mike Ciprari started building drums in 2000 as teenagers working out of their grandmother’s basement.